Retrospective analysis of gifted education in the USA on the frames of the world’s trends of its development

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Retrospective analysis of gifted education in the USA on the frames of the world's trends of its development

M.I. Tadeyeva

P.О. Tadeyev

The article deals with the analysis of the American gifted education from the days of the first colleges and universities functioning up to the beginning of the 21st century. In retrospective aspect, it characterizes the steps of formation and development of American system of teaching gifted and talented students. It highlights the main trends of developing education of this category of students from about 1870 to the Depression years of 1920s - 1930s and the years after the Second World War, the Sputnik period and achievements of the 1970s - 1980s which are connected with the activities of J. Renzulli, R. Sternberg, A. Tannenbaum, J. Van Tassel-Baska and other scientists.

The article states that the most definitions select the students who are skilled or talented in a given area (music, language, sports, leadership, logical reasoning or mathematics). The development of early studies in giftedness started from Alfred Binet intelligence tests which have been developed by Lewis Terman in his long-term studies of talented children and Leta Hollingworth was the first in the USA to propose the best practices to serve the gifted children.

It is pointed out on the importance of the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union as the immediate emphasis on education for bright students in the United States. Later, the Marland Report for the _ first time presented a general definition of giftedness which allowed students to participate in special programs and projects. Despite the considerable attention to the history of gifted education, the US system receives a lot of criticisms. Educational authorities vary in the definition of giftedness (H. Gardner, J. Renzulli, S. Johnsen, L. Terman) and Federal definition has been adopted by the majority of the states in the USA.

Key words: gifted education, definition of giftedness, talent, trends of development, retrospective analysis, identification.

РЕТРОСПЕКТИВНИЙ АНАЛІЗ ОСВІТИ ОБДАРОВАНИХ В США В РАМКАХ СВІТОВИХ ТЕНДЕНЦІЙ ЇЇ РОЗВИТКУ

М.І. Тадеєва, П.О. Тадеєв

Стаття присвячена аналізу американської освіти обдарованих осіб від часів функціонування перших коледжів та університетів до початку ХХІ століття. У ретроспективному аспекті cхарактеризовано етапи становлення та розвитку американської системи навчання обдарованих і талановитих учнів. Висвітлюються основні тенденції розвитку навчання цієї категорії школярів приблизно з 1870-хроків до періоду Великої депресії 1920-1930-х років та після Другої світової війни, включаючи період Супутника та досягнення 1970-1980-х років, які пов'язані з діяльністю Дж. Рензуллі, Р. Штернберга, А. Танненбаума, Дж. Ван Тассел-Баска та ін.

У статті констатовано, що більшість визначень ідентифікує школярів, які є найбільш вправними чи талановитими у певній галузі (музика, мова, спорт, лідерство, логічне мислення чи математика ). Розвиток ранніх досліджень обдарованості розпочався з тестів інтелекту Альфреда Біне, які були розроблені Льюїсом Терманом у його довготривалих дослідженнях талановитих дітей, а Лета Холлінгворт була першою в США, яка запропонувала найкращі практики для підтримки обдарованих дітей.

Акцентується на важливості запуску Радянським Союзом першого супутника, що безпосередньо вплинув на освіту талановитих учнів у Сполучених Штатах. Пізніше у звіті Марленда було вперше представлено загальне визначення обдарованості, яке дозволило учням брати участь у спеціальних програмах і проєктах. Незважаючи на значну увагу до історії освіти обдарованих, система такого навчання у США отримує багато критики. Освітні інституції країни розходяться у визначенні обдарованості (Г. Гарднер, Дж. Рензуллі, С. Джонсен, Л. Терман), а більшість штатів США прийняли федеральне визначення.

Ключові слова: освіта обдарованих, визначення обдарованості, талант, тенденції розвитку, ретроспективний аналіз, ідентифікація.

Statement of the problem in a general way and its connection with important scientific and practical tasks. Giftedness over the centuries in different countries depended upon the values of the culture. General academic skills, talents in specific aesthetic, scientific, economic, athletic areas have not always been judged as special «gifts». In Athens social position and gender determined opportunities. Upper-class free Greeks sent their boys to private schools that taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history, literature, the arts and physical fitness. But only Plato's Academy charged no fees and selected both young men and women on the basis of intelligence and physical state, not social class (Davis, Rimm, Siegle, 2017).

Roman education included architecture, engineering, law and administration. Boys and girls attended elementary schools, even grammar schools, but higher education was restricted to boys. Besides, Roman society valued mother and family. analysis gifted education

Early China valued gifted children and youth, sending child prodigies to the imperial court where their gifts were recognized and cultivated. Chinese leaders anticipated several principles of modern gifted and talented education. They accepted a multiple-talent concept of giftedness: literary ability, leadership, intellectual abilities, imagination, originality, perceptual sensitivity. According to Confucius the Chinese recognized that education should be available to all children, but all children should be educated differently according to their abilities (Davis, Rimm, Siegle, 2017).

In Japan birth determined opportunities. The Samurai children received training in Confucian classics, martial arts, history, composition, moral values and etiquette. Only a few scholars established private academics for intellectually gifted children, both Samurai and common.

In England, as distinct from the rest of Europe, the strong class consciousness that has pervaded British society, which includes resentment of inherited wealth and titles, led to an egalitarian reluctance to spend educational funds to help gifted students, who seemed already advantaged (Monks, 2005).

Analysis of the latest research and publications in which it was initiated solution to this problem, which the authors relies on. Recent history underlying todays strong in interest in gifted education is inseparably connected with personal contributions of outstanding scientists, educators in this sphere, beginning from F. Galton, A. Binet, L. Terman, L. Hollingworth up to world famous modern educational psychologists: G. Stanly, N. Colangelo, T. Cross, J. Van Tassel-Baska, J. Renzulli, S. Reis, R. Sternberg, E. Torrance, E. Reid, R. Sternberg, E. Torrance and many others.

The purpose of the article is to offer an overview of the short history of development of USA gifted education during the last one hundred years in retrospective analysis on the frames of the world trends.

Presentation of the main material of the study with full justification of the obtained results. We will analyze historical-pedagogical and socio-cultural factors that determined the development of gifted education in the USA. During the formation of the state, interest in the education of gifted and talented children was insignificant. Some gifted students were admitted to high school and college based on high academic achievement and their ability to pay for tuition.

J. Gallagher noted the fact that a real study of giftedness and the formation of gifted children's education in the USA took place relatively recently and was connected with the research of F. Galton, L. Terman and L. Hollingworth, who chose as the object of their study children with high intellectual abilities (Gallagher, 1994).

Against the background of compulsory schooling, which was available to children from wealthy families, there was a small number of educational services for gifted children. Here are just a few examples of schools that have started teaching this category of children. In particular,

- in 1870, the first elements of the accelerated course were started in St. Louis, which allowed students to quickly complete the course of study;

- in 1884, such a curriculum was created in the city of Woburn, according to which the "Double Tillage Plan" in the form of skipping classes, under whi ch gifted students could complete the program of the first class of study in one semester;

- in 1891, schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, successfully implemented accelerated learning programs for gifted students;

- in 1901, the first school for gifted children was opened in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts;

- in 1916, special classes for gifted students were started in Los Angeles and Cincinnati (Davis, Rimm, Siegle, 2017).

By 1920, two-thirds of all major U.S. cities had various types of special programs for gifted students and students. But during the Great Depression, interest in gifted education declined due to economic and social factors (Robins, 2010).

More interests in educating gifted children were seen during the Cold War, in the time of development of space technologies and defense. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 by the Soviet Union caused a shock in western world, especially in the USA. Consequently, education of gifted children in the USA became a priority. National Defense Education Act (1958) initiated funding to US education at all levels, especially with the aim to bolster science, mathematics and technology. Special secondary schools for gifted children were created and new programs for intellectually gifted students with the aim of developing creativity were opened at universities (Reid, 2015, 242). In 1969 Congress of United States asked the US commissar for Education Marland to elaborate a study on education of gifted children. The Marland Report was finished in 1972 and provided the first formal definition of giftedness which is still used today as the basis of definition of giftedness in the United States (Marland, 1972). This definition covers general intellectual ability, special academic aptitude, creative thinking, leadership ability, visual and performing arts and psychomotor ability.

But today the US legislation does not include a national policy on gifted education and it does not provide a definition of giftedness and specific requirements for educating the gifted. On the other hand, according to E. Reid, the US legislation specifies the policy regarding other special needs children (e.g. disabilities) (Reid, 2015, 243). Now each state has its own policy providing gifted education, including methods and forms of identification, types of programs, support and teacher training. National Association for Gifted Children (2014) provides gifted education with legislative base, standards for training specialists in this sphere and other procedures.

Considering the ways of developing gifted education in the USA up to 2000,

J. Roberts selected ten main events that greatly influenced it. The Top 10 events are described not in order of importance, but rather they are presented in an approximate chronological order:

1) in 1957, the launching of Sputnik I shook the confidence of the US public, making it obvious that the Soviet Union was ahead in science and technology;

2) in 1972, S. Marland Report which established six categories of giftedness;

3) in 1954, the establishment of national and state organizations in gifted education for support of gifted and talented children. The National Association for Gifted Children has started activities now in most states of the country;

4) in 1982, the Curriculum Council with Dr. S. Kaplan worked out the principles of differentiation for students with special gifts and talents;

5) intellectual abilities research has added new dimensions to the understanding of human potential and learning environments and the needs for such children;

6) the formation of residential school students during the last two decades of 20th century;

7) the influence of the Richardson Study and Dissemination Conferences in the 1980s and grants from the Richardson Foundation for the gifted;

8) the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act of the Congress (1988) which attracted attention of the society to the field of gifted and talented education;

9) National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (1993) once again drew the attention of educators to problems in the field of gifted education;

10) state initiatives to require services in different areas of giftedness (identification creativity, leadership, types of giftedness, educational strategies (acceleration, enrichment) (Roberts, 1999, 53-55).

During the first decade of the 21st century, the education of gifted children in the United States is heterogeneous across the country. Depending on the state in which gifted children live, they have different opportunities and perspectives in receiving special educational services. According to the Davidson Institute for Talent Development (2009), only six states fully fund education for gifted children. In contrast, twelve states do not fund programs for gifted children. And twenty-eight states provide only basic programs for gifted students and only partially fund them. Therefore, in the USA, not all gifted children have equal opportunities (Jolly, 2009).

During our analysis it is very important to determine the leading role of National Research Center of the Gifted and Talented and its head J. Renzulli in modern development of US gifted education in theoretical and practical aspects. Since its inception, the National Research Center has been partnered with the University of Virginia and the University of Connecticut, as well as several dozen departments of education, several hundred public and private schools representing diverse ethnic, social, and demographic groups, several hundred gifted education consultants, other institutions that represent administrators, psychologists and parents.

The main challenges in the field of gifted education in the modern period are the creation of effective forms and methods of identifying gifted students and their socio-pedagogical support, the development of teaching strategies for this category of children, the classification of types of giftedness and the creation of special programs for their development, the support of gifted representatives of various languages and cultures, development of standards for teachers' work with gifted children, use of innovative technologies for work with gifted students in extraordinary conditions, creation of a favorable educational environment for realizing the needs of gifted individuals.

The last century of gifted education development in the USA is characterized by the process of expanding conceptions of giftedness and talent from the point of view of their multidimensionality. The first decades of the last century are connected with research of psychologists who equated giftedness with high intellectual abilities. But later other researchers such as Cattell and Guilford suggested more multifaceted approaches to intelligence. And in 1980s and 1990s new theories appeared which were based on multiple components to intelligence. Most of the investigators define giftedness in terms of multiple qualities, not all of which are intellectual. Motivation, high self-concept and creativity are key qualities of the broadened conceptions of giftedness (Reis, 2008).

The most important theories of giftedness proposed in the last century are Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence and J. Renzulli's three ring definition of gifted behavior serve as precise examples of multifaceted, expanded and scholarly conceptualizations of intelligence and giftedness. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence is highly appreciated not only in the USA but in many other countries, especially his eight specific intelligences such as linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and naturalist. Renzulli's definition of 1978 is composed of three components that reflect an interaction among three basic clusters; about average ability, high level of task commitment and high level of creativity (Renzulli, 1980).

S. Reis also pointed out on the importance of Marland Report, 1972, which initiated the federal definition of giftedness and talent. Due to this definition children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience or environment. These children and youth show high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools (Reis, 2000).

Modern situation of gifted education in the USA is characterized by the lack of challenge for gifted students. Thus, three remifications exist for gifted and youth in their schools. First, they are clearly underchallenged and therefore their development is delayed or may be halted. Second, too many of the brightest students never learn to work and consequently, acquire poor work habits. And the third, the problem of not learning to work does not exist only in urban areas or in America alone, and it seems to be an area of increasing importance in education of gifted and talented students.

The decades of 80th and 90th were marked by an increasing interest in the atypical gifted who are described as consisting of ethnic, racial and linguistic minorities, the economically disadvantaged, gifted females, gifted underachievers and the gifted disabled.

The modern period of developing giftedness and education of gifted and talented individuals is connected with theory - based models such as three- stratum theory, multiple intelligence theory and triarchic theory of successful intelligence. J. Davidson proposed five additional components of several current models of giftedness which include sources of giftedness, social responsibility, creativity, gender peculiarities and the role of personal cognitive abilities (Jolly, Kettler, 2008). The famous American scientist in the sphere of gifted education S. Reis wrote about the future perspectives of its development «we must refocus our efforts and ensure that our schools and programs help to create a new generation of artists, scholars, researchers, and producers in every field that will use their talents to preserve our earth and grow as individuals» (Reis, 2008).

Conclusions and prospects for further research. Gifted education in the USA and giftedness research has a history of more than one hundred years. With respect of gifted education development there have been several important events through the decades. At first giftedness was equated with high intelligence and research activities focused on theories of intelligence and methods of measuring intelligence. Among the factors which have influenced the gifted education development in this country over the course of history it should be defined the following ones: changing social conditions over the course of history; the launching of Sputnik in the Soviet Union; the need to create special education for the gifted with the aim to solve social and economic problems; the establishment of special enrichment programs; new theories and conceptions of giftedness (longitudinal study of mathematical precocity, cognitive development in the gifted, creativity and wisdom theory, different types of giftedness).

The system-based perspective will have a great deal of influence on future conceptions of appropriate educational measures for gifted students and should be subjected to closer examination in the future. A system-based perspective would certainly also help to resolve the discord between giftedness and cultural influences.

References

1. A Brief History of Gifted and Talented Education (2016). National Association for Gifted Children. Nagc. Org. N. P. 2016.

2. Gallagher, J. (1994). Current and Historical Thinking on Education for Gifted and Talented Students. Washington, DC.

3. Davis, G., Rimm S., Siegle, D. (2017). Education of the Gifted and Talented. Pearson. New York. 7th Ed.

4. Robins, J. H. (2010). An Explanatory History of Gifted Education: 1940-1960. A Dissertation on Educational Psychology. Baylor University.

5. Reid, E. (2015). Development of Gifted Education and an Overview of Gifted Education in the USA, Canada, Equator and Mexico. P. 241-245.

6. Jolly, J. L. (2009). A History of American Gifted Education. Gifted Child Today. Vol. 31. №2. P. 36-37.

7. Marland, S. P. (1972). Education of the gifted and talented. Report to the Congress of the United States, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office (Government Documents Y4. L 11/2: G 36).

8. Monks, F., Pfluger, R. (2015). Gifted Education in 21 European Countries: Inventory and perspectives. Nijmegen: Radboud University

9. Roberts, J. L. (1999). The Top 10 Events Boating Gifted Education for the New Century. Gifted Child Today. Vol.22, №6. P. 53-55.

10. Reis, S. M. (2008). Turning points and future directions in gifted education and talent development. In the Routledge International Companion for Gifted Education. P. 317324.

11. Reis, S. M. & Mc Coach, D. B. (2000). The underachievement of gifted students :what do we know and where do we go? Gifted Child Quarterly. Vol. 44(3). P. 152-170.

12. Renzulli, J. S. (1980). Will the gifted movement be alive and well in 1990? Gifted Child Quaterly. № 24. P. 3-9.

13. Jolly, J. L., Kettler, T. (2008). Gifted Education Research 1994 - 2003 : A Disconnect Between Priorities and Practice. Journal for the Education of the Gifted. Vol. 31 (4). Pp. 427- 446.

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